Alexandria
by Akaomi Nanashi
Summary: Alexandria is the name of a 10 year old girl, who is penniless and eventually ends up being homeless because of her cruel and greedy Uncle. She decides to walk the same path as her mother years ago, but will it end happily or in redemption?
1. Chapter 1

_**LEXANDRIA  
**_

_**Chapter 1:- Lost in the world  
**_

"He is a wretched man! Indeed he is "Alexandria Nicholson picked up the few coins from the street, she was not calling it to baker who scolded and threw her on the street, nor did she call it to the dog who growled at her, baring his teeth. Alexandria sighed and left the baker's shop and went down towards the end of the street. Another day and another failure what next? She thought as she dodged carts and people. She was walking along the street and suddenly she saw a beautiful white washed house. It was like a villa and was beautifully decorated with vines that were growing flowers because it was spring. And if we look at Alexandria face, instead of any envious feeling in her heart, there was hatred and anger in it, for this beautiful house once belonged to her. Yes, this house once belonged to this auburn colored hair, with dark brown eyes, delicate and fragile, thin body with smooth white skin, now bruised with the hardships and torments from the society around her. Dressed in rags, Alexandria Nicholson was once the owner of this villa portraying the status of high society.

She was not born in poverty but in great wealth, not wealth, richness. Her father had great influence in the courts of King Robert. Her mother died when she was born leaving her to be the only child without any other sibling. Even though she was an only child her father James Nicholson did not spoil her, but taught her to be responsible and good. Her father even though wanted to have a son loved her still very much and taught her to be like a boy. He taught her sword fighting, spear fighting and even trained her how to fight like a knight. She remembered all those things dreamily. She also remembered the vacation she spent with her father, as they lived on the land that was near the sea. She used to spend her holiday time on the beach with her father playing tag or building sand castles on the beach, and sometimes writing the name "Maternia" on the sand, the place where they lived.

She thought her writing was like an expert even though it was the writing of eight years old and eight years old she was. She remembered the setting of the sun with her father and while watching the sun she would drop off to sleep in her father's lap without any care of concern of the world. She was but a wave whose only job was to float on the ocean and not worry about the storm ahead.

Then her would quietly carry her to the carriage and then finally to bed. But what she did not know that indeed the sun was setting on her fate, because a year later her father who was only sun in her life died, leaving her all alone in the darkness of the night.

As her father did not leave a will all the property was undertaken by her father older brother Edward Nicholson. At first he and his family treated her kindly. Edward's family consisted of two children and a cunning wife named Rosaline Edward. The boy name was Maurice while the girl name was bertha. Maurice was fourteen years old while bertha was thirteen, so in this case Alexandria was the youngest.

For whole one year all went well when all of a sudden all of the goodness and kindness of the Edwards family changed into hatred and physical violence. She was forced to become a servant in her own house. This sudden change came when the secret vault in the house was found. This secret vault contained all manners of treasure which James kept for his only daughter. But now it unlawfully belonged to the Edwards. After this nothing remained the same she became a servant and after accidentally breaking bertha's looking mirror Alexandria was thrown out as if they were waiting for her to make a fatal mistake.

She didn't know what to do and where to go but her kind friend and servant who an angel in disguise "Leah" took her into his friend's house there she was kept for some time until Edward discovered where she was. Threatened by her legal rights for the property and treasures he decided it is best to remove her from all possible known sites. Edward threatened Leah of firing him from his job and ordered him to leave Alexandria alone. Leah had no choice; he was young and had a family to look after, so Alexandria finally left the place. First she went and took a job as a waitress in a small inn, but as she was not accustomed to the harshness of life she was too slow and broke many dishes and pots, so she had to leave the place, then she went to a wine factory where she had to clean the bottles label them and put them in a box. But she was afraid of mice and because of this fear se broke bottles too, so sadly she again left the place to look for another work. One after another she displeased her masters and upset the whole work by creating a mess of it.

The last job she ever found yet was at the bakers shop, her job was to mop the floor but when she started cleaning she upset the whole table where the cakes were laid and to her horror the cakes came tumbling down to the floor, the baker was a man of little patience and because of it she was thrown out from the job on the very spot.

Alexandria remembering all these things turned her face away from the building and turned to the corner of the street where there was another baker's shop. She entered the shop not to ask for work, but for bread. Luckily she was having a quarter and three pennies that might last for two days. If she made the bread last long enough for dinner tonight. She entered the shop and heard the baker say "hello! And how can I help you?" but it rather sounded like "what do you want". Alexandria asked" can I have some bread this quarter?" and pushed her money in front of him. The baker took out a small loaf of bread and took the money. Alexandria took the bread and went out of the shop. She broke it into two halves and ate the first half hungrily for she had not eaten anything since morning.

That night while she tried to snuggle herself to sleep to keep warm from the bitter cold, she thanked her lucky stars for the dress she found in the garbage. She used this woolen dress as a blanket and lay down to sleep in the corner of an old garbage area. While lying down to sleep she thought of her uncle and how he must be happy in the palace which lawfully belonged to her. Realizing that she may never have chance to enjoy those cozy beds she stopped the tears from coming in her eyes for she knew that in this cold night, even these tears will make her cheeks cold. "I will have my revenge someday, I will!" she said while setting her teeth in.

Next morning the day dawned fair and bright. It seemed a pleasant day for the shopkeepers as they opened their shops whistling a happy tune. But for Alexandria it seemed another miserable day. She woke up, opening one eye to see the rising sun. She took out her bread from her pocket and began eating it. After she had finished eating her bread, she got up from her so called made bread and hid the dress in the garbage for she did not want to lose the only property she legally owned. She then got up to look for work but everywhere she went the shopkeepers would say "Are you not the girl who breaks things and always causes a mess?" At that Alexandria would say no but after proving their point she got kicked out. Till noon she looked for work but got tired and decided to take the day off from this miserable search. To amuse herself she decided to go to the beach and started making sand castles.

As soon as she had finished her castle and written the name "Maternia" on the sand a wave came and destroyed the whole structure of the castle. At this scene Alexandria looked horrified and grieved. As soon as the wave left, it left a lump of sand and a distorted name of Maternia behind. She cried out loudly at this "why the world has to take away everything from me?" and fell on her knees. She looked at the sea with teary eyes. The sea looked calm and peaceful. Then suddenly an idea flashed in her innocent child like mind. She could just simply join them and have her revenge. But joining them means that there is no turning back and it is also wrong to join them. But what uncle did is it also not wrong. That part caught her mind so she got up and walked towards the darkest part of town: The Pirate's Cove.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2:-The Pirate's Cove**_

The Pirate's Cove was the darkest and the most notorious part of the town. It was more like a harbor with shops around it but this harbor was reserved for pirates only. Around the harbor there were some inns to refresh themselves after the long robbing and looting of the merchant ships. There were shops that had repairing equipment for the ships like hammer, nails, wood etc and last but not the least a readymade pirate flag. So whenever a pirate needs anything he can visit the Pirate's Cove.

Alexandria entered the Pirate's Cove with fear in her placid eyes. Only a few dared to enter this dangerous place. Mean looking men stared and glared at her, which made the situation for soft hearted Alexandria even worse. She wanted to scream and run away but she kept on walking forward. At last after wandering here there for some time she reached a small inn where there were pirate's drinking wine and fighting with each other without the aim of wining. Alexandria thought that she could simply go inside and have a talk with a pirate, or she could simply walk away. But she could be made a laughing stock which would add insult to injury. So she gladly picked the latter and walked away from that wretched place as far away her legs could carry her. Her father used to tell her that a wine always brings bad luck to people.

Gradually after walking for some time she came to the harbor. She looked around if anybody was near her to stop her from approaching the ships. There were none so she very quietly as a mouse began inspecting the ships. No one was present on the ship either. She just walked across the ships that she had just recently checked when she suddenly heard a whistle from above. She suddenly looked up. The sun was just setting and evening stars were already in the sky but it was not too dark to see his face. His face even though had very rough and heavy eyebrows but his eyes seemed peaceful. The features of his face were not like a cruel and cunning but of a gentle and a kind person. This gave her strength and called out to him "Excuse me Sir!" The man turned but instead of frowning he smiled like if he is surprised but in a pleasurable way. He said "What a little Lassie like you is doing here?" "Lassie! What's that supposed to mean?" Alexandria thought continued in her questioning. "I want to join your crew" "But there is no space to be filled and besides you are a girl, we do not allow girls to be pirates" the man said still smiling. "I may be a girl but I know how to handle a sword" Alexandria said with some persistence. "Even if you know how to handle a hair brush we simply won't allow you to join the crew." The pirate said, his smile vanishing.

When Alexandria saw this she crumpled to the ground and started crying. The pirate first stayed silent at this and then asked her quietly "Why do you even want to be a pirate?" Alexandria stopped sobbing and then said "When you have nowhere to go, no where to stay and you think that the world does not need you then that person walks away from the path that is difficult for him and starts following the path that is easier for him" . The pirate after hearing this said to her "Alright little girl, you can come on the ship and when the captain arrives he will know what to do with you." Hearing this proposal gave Alexandria some hope and climbed up the rope ladder that was thrown by him. The pirate gave her meat and bread which she ate with some relish for she was extremely famished. Then she drank the water which seemed like milk to her for she was also parched.

The pirate's name was Joey. Even though his real name was Johnson but the pirate's called him Joey. Alexandria thought what her nick name would be and while thinking she fell asleep. In her dream she saw her father trying to tell her something but she could not hear him because of other voices that she kept on hearing. She suddenly abruptly woke up and saw several men looking at her. She sat up and suddenly felt an intense fear inside her heart. "Ah the little missy has finally woken up eh?" she heard a voice. The pirates made a way and she saw a rather tall man wearing a feather hat. He was wearing a comical expression with a twinkle in his eye. She stood up and faced him "How come there is no parrot on his shoulder. He is also not wearing a peg leg and an eye patch, I wonder why?" Alexandria "So you want to join the crew of mine eh little missy?" "What! First lassie and now little missy what next chicken little?" sighed Alexandria as she replied "Yes sir" "Tell you what you can join my crew only on one condition. As you know sword fighting you have to defeat one of my men in a fight. If you win you are most welcome here but if you lose you shall have your head cut off what do you say?"


End file.
